1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wet tissue warmer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disposable wet tissues are used prevalently in substitution for small damp towels for wiping hands, kitchen uses, cleaning toilets, clearing up babies"" and sick persons"" mess and such. Containers for containing disposable wet tissues are classified roughly into bolt type (cylindrical) containers, box type (box-shaped) containers and pouch type containers.
Wet tissues are cold in a cold season and hence, there is the possibility that wet tissues give babies and sick persons an unpleasant feeling when wet tissues for cleaning up babies"" and sick persons"" mess are used in a cold season, such as winter.
Wet tissue warmers have been used to warm wet tissues. However, wet tissue warmers consume power and take a long time to heat wet tissues to an optimum temperature, and we tissue warmers of a large capacity are necessary to heat wet tissues quickly to an optimum temperature.
The applicant of the present patent application previously invented a wet tissue warmer and made an application for patent (JP-A No. Hei 8-117137). This wet tissue warmer has a wet tissue container provided with a lid, and a heating device attached to the inner surface of the lid. A stack of wet tissues is pressed against the heating device to heat the upper layers of wet tissues.
FIG. 13 shows this wet tissue warmer 100.
The wet tissue warmer 100 includes a case 103, a lifting plate 102 placed in the case 103, springs 101 biasing the lifting plate 102 upward, and a removable lid 104 covering an open upper end 103a of the case 103. The lid 104 is provided in its central part with a tissue dispensing opening 105 covered with a small cover 106. A heating unit 107 is formed by placing a heater 108 in a region excluding a region in which the tissue dispensing opening 105 is formed on the inner surface of the lid 104.
As shown in FIG. 13, a wet tissue package A is placed on the lifting plate 102 of the wet tissue warmer 100. The wet tissue package A is pressed against the heating unit 107 on the lid 104 for heating by the resilience of the springs 101. When using wet tissues a, the small cover 106 is opened and the wet tissues a are taken out one by one.
The wet tissue warmer 100 is able to heat a portion of the wet tissue package A near a tissue dispensing part selectively and hence, wet tissues a to be used at present can be efficiently heated.
Since the wet tissue package A contained in this wet tissue warmer 100 is pressed against the inner surface of the lid 104, i.e., the lower surface of the heating unit 107, a high resistance acts on the wet tissue a when the wet tissue a is taken out and hence, the wet tissue a cannot be easily taken out. If the pressure applied to the wet tissue package A is reduced to enable the wet tissue a to be taken out easily, it is possible that the wet tissue a cannot be closely pressed against the inner surface of the lid 104 and cannot be satisfactorily heated.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wet tissue warmer capable of solving the foregoing problems of satisfactorily heating a wet tissue to be used at present and of facilitating taking out a wet tissue.
According to the present invention, a wet tissue warmer for warming a wet tissue package including a wet tissue includes a case having an open end, a lid removably put on the case so as to cover the open end of the case and internally provided with a heater, a lifting plate placed in the case, supporting the wet tissue package and biased upward so as to press the wet tissue package against the lid by a first spring, and movement obstructing means for obstructing upward movement of the lifting plate.
According to the present invention, the lifting plate placed so as to be movable in the case of the wet tissue warmer has a raised central part.
According to the present invention, the movement obstructing means, such as a locking means, locks the lifting plate to prevent the lifting plate from biasing the wet tissue package when a wet tissue is taken out.
Accordingly, according to the present invention, the wet tissue package is pressed by a high force against the lid with the built-in heater to sufficiently heat a wet tissue when the wet tissue is not used. When the wet tissue is used, the pressing of the wet tissue package against the lid is prevented to facilitate taking out wet tissues.